Igniter for explosion-engines.



E. w. STEVENS. I IGNITBR FOR EXPLOSION ENGINBS.,

- APPLICATION FILED OUT. 11, 1 909. 968,280. Patented Aug. 23, 1910;

. ii; Wiflzunnntn! v. i :11 H. r wz/f/ w 3% llll m a v Q'EZZ JJ W 67271672 I UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIBRIDGE W.S'IIElXTZEiIhTS, 01E BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IGNITER FOR EXPLOSION-ENGINES.

To all whom it may concern.';

Be it known that I, E BRIDGE W. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Impr'ovements in Igniters for Explosion-Engines, of which thefollowing is a specificat1on.

ing the electric circuit by which the spark explosion or internal combustion engine and it consists mainly in the novel construction and arrangement of devices operated upon by a rotary cam whereby the closure and opening'of the electric circuit toproduce the spark is effected in a simple and practi: cal way and in a uniform manner irrespe'c tive of the speed of the engine and by which also damaging strain to and thebreakage .of the contact devices are avoided in the event of a back-fire and reversal of the cam 7 line 1.1 of Fig. 2; Figs 1? and 1" show difshaft, as hereinafter more "fully described with reference to the drawing in which,

Figure 1 is a sectional view taken on the fe rent positions of the cam, and Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

. In the drawing X-represents a disk-shaped frame formed with a central hub-portion X and an offsettin and perforated arm J whose function Wlll be hereinafter described. The disk portion of the frame is formed with lugs w to which is connected, by screws y, a cup-shaped casing Y within which my igniter devices are contained. These igniter devices consist of a shaft R1 arranged with" ball bearings {1" '1' 1' 1', within the hub-portion. This shaft has at one end a socket portion with clamp screw 8 by which it is connected in alinement to the camactuating shaft and at the other end the shaft R is screw threaded and projects into the casing Y and has screwed on to itand rigidly secured to it acam head A., This can head has on it one or more cam nubs or projections a, said cam nubs corresponding in. number to the number of cylinders in the engine and each nub serving to open and close the sparkmaking circuit for its own cylinder.

On the frame plate X atone side of the cam head A there isarranged a pivot screw K on which oscillates a block M carrying on one side a leafspring E and on the other My invention' 'relates to igniters for 010s Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. '23, 1910. Application filed October 11, 1909. Serial No. 522,138.

side .a compound member consisting of an arm C substantially parallel to the spring E but having a flattened tubular end portion forming a sheath or guide-in which fits and freely slides the shank t of a right angular tappet arm B which is acted upon by the nubs of the'cam to produce a compound motion; that is to say, with the-cam shaft re volving in the direction of thearrow in Fig.

1, the nubs of the cam first pull on the tappet arm B and pull outthe shank t of the arm from. its tubular sheath or guiderin arm C, and then as, the cam nub passes by. the end of the tappet arm B it forces the tappet arm B and arm C to the right about its piv-c .platinum points being terniinals of the electric circuit, the latter is made or broken by the alternate contact and separation of the platinum points to produce the spark in the.

well known way. The contact point 1) is made adjustable to or from the other contact point d to time within certain limits the period of contactby the adjustment of the screw V. This screw is held in a split-head P Whose two jaws are clamped together bya screw I to firmly hold the screw V to its adjustment. The screw threaded stem '1 of \the clamp head passes through a non-con ducting bushingU in the disk frameX and is clamped in place by jam nuts 5.

In connection with the vibrating arm C and the sliding and vibrating tappet arni B,

two coil springs G and II are employed. Both of these at their outer ends are anchored to studs or screws on the frame plate.

and at their innerv ends the spring G is connected to the tappet arm B and serves to slide its shank back into its sheath orguide after the cam, nub has passed by the end of the arm, while the inner end of sprin H is connected to the arm Cor some part 0 block M and serves 'to bring the arm C back again toward the cam after the nub has passed and thus separate the contact d from D. 'As the s ring G is arranged at an angle to the arm (i it, will be seen'that italone will perform thedouble function of retracting the tappet arm B and also rocking the arm C toward the cam A. The spring H acts in a su plementary way to make a quick return arm C- toward'cam A after a nub a has passed the tappet arm 13, but said spring H may be .seen that with the cam shaft revolving normally in the directionof the-curved arrow,

' when a nub a strikes the tappet arm,B it

first pulls itout of its sheath a given distance against the tension of spring'G, and then as the nub passes the end-of tappet arm B, it projects the tappet arm, with arm C and spring E bearin-g contact (2, to the right,

until the latter touches contact D and closes the circuit. After the cam nub passes the tappet arm, spring G draws up the tappet arm shank into its guide or sheath and spring H acting in conjunction with G draws the arm C back against a stop F to open contact'between d and D to produce the spark and putthe tappet arm in proper relation for the next closure of a circuit, for the next cylinder to be fired. That this action may be better understood, and the distinctive features of my invention more clearly pointed out,--I now refer to Figs. 1 and 1 In Fig. 1 a cam nub a has pulled down the tappet arm B to its limit, and the highest point of the cam is just about to project the tappet arm B and arm C to the right to closethe circuit. As the'camnub passes a little far ther', as in Fig. 1 the tappet arm B is projected to the right as indicated by the dotted lines, and then as the-tappet arm' rides on the curved part of the cam, the spring G pulls up tappet arm B immediately and spring H brings itin toward the center of camhead-A. This movement of the tappet arm from the dotted position in 1 to the full line position is not affected by the progressivemovement .of the cam, but is produced b spring action independent of the speed 0 the cam and as this movement of. arm 6 to the left is the o ening movement of contact spring IE, it wil be seen that the breaking of the circuit, to produce the'spark,

is independent of the speed of 'thecam shaft and is uniform for all speeds of the engine, that is to say, the. separation of contact oints (Z and ;D to produce the spark is ef- 'ected by a spring actuated movement independent of the progressive movement of the cam.- As shown, there are four cam nubs for a four cylinder engine; There may,

' however, be only one cam nub or any number of cam nubs to correspond with any number of cylinders in the engine.

With myinvention, if there should be. any back-firing of the engine and a reversal of the camshaft, the nubs do not strike against and break any unyielding part, but the tap pet arm B and arm-C simply yield backward against the tension of springI-I without doing any damage.

In the upper part of Fig. 2 isshown the distributer for the high tension current for which I make no claim. The part3 is a non conducting block mounted on andrevolving with .shaft R and 'carryingspringfQ. spring bears constantly agamst the metal terminal 1' of the secondary wire and as block 3' revolves with thesha ft R,lthe spring i 2 delivers the spark to the terminals 4 and 5 of the cylinders connected thereto." To advance or retardthe spark, it is only necessary-through armJ to rotatecasing Y with the contacts 1, 5, 4:, in relation to the revolving spring 2, as iswell known. I'claim' 11. An igniter device for making and gines, comprising a rotating cam member breaking an electric circuit f'orexplosion enand a compound member acted upon fthereby consisting of a pivoted arm hav1ng a guide, a sliding tappet-arm arranged in sald guide,

a spring mechanism for holdingthe'tappet arm in its'guide and for holdingthe tappet arm and guide against ithe cam, a contact bearing member combined-with said parts and *partaking of their movements and a relatively stationary coiiperatingfcontact.

2. An igniter device for vmaking: and breaking an electric circuit forexplosion engines, comprising a rotating cam member and a compound member acted upon thereby consisting of apivoted arm havlng a guide,

a sliding tappet arm arranged in said guide, a spring mechanism for holding the tappet arm in its guide and for holding the tappet arm and' guide against the cam, a contact bearing member combined with said parts and partaking of their movements and it relativeiystationary cotiperating contact consisting of a screw carrying a platinum bearing, bifurcated jaws embracing the screw, a clamp 'screwfor bringingthe jaws together and -means for mountingand insulating said parts.

breaking an electric circuit for explosion 3.,An igniter device for making and engines, comprising a rotating cam member,

a compound member acted upon thereby consisting of a pivotedblock having- 11 one s de an arm bearing a longitudinalguide, a tappe arm having a shank sliding in said guide, a spring for holding the tappet arm up in its guide,'another spring forholding the tappet arm and its guide against the cam,-

a spring member bearing a contact' point and attached to the pivoted block and a stationary contact point.

4:. An igniter' device for making and breaking an electric circuit for explosion 5 engines, comprising a rotating cam member,

a compound member acted upon thereby consisting ofa pivoted block having on one side an arm bearing a longitudinal guide, a appet arm having a shank sliding in said guilie, a spring for holding the tappet arm up in its guide, another spring for holding the tappet arm and its guide against the cam, a spring member bearing a contact point and attached to the pivoted block and a stationary contact point, the spring contact member and the tappetbearing member being substantially parallel. 5. An igniter device for making and breaking an electric circuit for explosion engines, comprising a rotatingcam member and a compound cam-actuated member, consisting of a pivoted arm having a longi-- tudinal guide and a sliding tappet arm ar ranged in said guide, a spring mechanism for holding the tappet arnrretracted in its guide and for holding the tappet arm and guide against the cam, a contact bearing member hung upon the same pivotal center as the compound member and permanently 30 ed to the latter for movement thered a relatively stationary cooperating (it. "G. A device for making and breaking-an electric circult, consistlng of a rotatlng cam member, a stationary contact polnt set opfor pulling the tappet into its guide and" against the cam. v j

7. A'device for making and breaking an electric circuit, consisting of a rotating cam member, a stationary contact point set opposite the same, a pivoted block set to one side of a line between the cam and contact and having attached thereto a contact making member and a compound cam-actuated member, both projecting to the line between the cam and stationary contact, the compound cam-actuated member having a guide containing a sliding tappet projection acted upon by the cam and a spring mechanism for pulling the tappet into its guide and against the cam, the compound cam-actuated member and the contact making member being arranged substantially parallel to each ot er.

' -In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ELBRIDGE W. STEVENS;

Witnesses:

C. M. FORREST, F. A. MILLIGAN. 

